“Little Sarah Jean Eating Machine”. That’s what my mother called me when I was young and used to eat anything, even eggplant! I was curious about food from the start. My favorite play activity was to make soups out of ingredients from the garden. I don’t know where my innate foodie gene came from, but perhaps my mother, a natural food perfectionist; I watched her spurn common spaghetti when “pasta night” became an American thing in the 90’s (she had studied in Italy with the real thing). Ah, pasta… It became my Achilles heel, as I succumbed to a gluten allergy in 2003, and changed my world . . . maybe for the better?
In 2003, after an indulgent vacation to France where I was never without a baguette or croissant, I returned to real life and to training for the upcoming college hockey season. My body revolted! Maybe it was just telling me to go back to the croissant-filled life…but I could hardly lift my own arms, and I knew it was something more. I had to figure out what was making my body so lethargic, so exhausted, and so weak- a version of tired I can’t even explain. If that wasn’t enough, my stomach ached as if I was swallowing knives and I went through the days feeling totally “out of it”.
After many visits to my general doctor – at this point I had been tested for just about everything under the sun- IBS, Crohns, Mono, Lyme disease, Lupus, and Cancers nothing seemed to explain why my body was going into such a revolt (this was before gluten was on the radar), I was desperate and willing to try anything. My mother sent me to a kinesiologist who suggested I cut this thing called “gluten” out of my diet for 2 weeks, and then let him know how I felt. That sounded simple enough, but what was “gluten,” and what foods was it in? Once I realized, I was shocked. How did he expect me to live? I buckled down for the challenge of consuming no gluten for 2 weeks, just as the Dr. suggested. It was almost like magic. The two week mark hit and my entire body came back to life. It was bittersweet- knowing that this meant a dramatic lifestyle change. I have never looked back. Now I am an engine for change, wanting to help people to better health through dietary changes and discovering the wonders and delights of a gluten-free diet that can still have a little indulgence.
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